Islanders enforcer Matt Martin responds to Oilers’ tough play

Islanders enforcer Matt Martin responds to Oilers’ tough play

Matt Martin usually is willing to drop his gloves and rarely crosses the etiquette line that exists among enforcers. He delivered a handful of extra punches to the back of Oilers defenseman Eric Gryba’s head in a third-period bout Sunday, sending a not-so-subtle message that the rules must be followed, even in an 8-1 rout.

A period earlier, 6-3 Zack Kassian went looking for a fight and decided that Thomas Hickey, a 5-10 non-fighting defenseman, would be a good target. Brian Strait, another non-fighter, stepped in and took some lumps from Kassian, who earned 19 penalty minutes.

Martin also was upset that Gryba had a cross-check clash with John Tavares earlier in the game.

“I just felt like we needed to respond to that,” Martin said. “It’s an emotional game, obviously, and [Kassian] is trying to stir something up for his team. At that point in the game, I didn’t think I was at a big risk of changing the momentum.”

Martin was impressed that Strait jumped in to fight Kassian.

“Straiter’s a hell of a guy in this room and he stepped up for Hicks there,” Martin said. “That shows you something.”